This year marks the 150th anniversary - the Sesquicentennial - of the Battle of Gettysburg, the decisive battle of the American Civil War fought on July 1, 2, and 3, 1864. It is probably the best known and best researched of all the battles fought during that conflict. When I was growing up, centennial celebrations were at a fever pitch and toy companies jumped on the bandwagon with fervor, but this time around it kinda snuck up on me - it took 150 years for it to sneak up but it did nevertheless! :-) I do believe we are going to ramp up our coverage of Civil War toys this year so let's start. We Enjoy The Gif on the End From The Berg's Enjoy :)
So far we have barely even scratched the surface of Civil War toys here on Toys and Stuff but here's a quick recap of the few things shown so far:
Occasionally we go to Michael's Crafts Stores to buy yarn for Bettina, or maybe some stripwood for my projects, or sometimes just to browse and see what they've got. It was on one of these random stops that I noticed something a little unusual in their toy section. They have an open rack full of bin toys, animals of all sorts, dinosaurs, a bunch of really cool dragons AND these two lone Civil War accessories, a stone bridge and tent. At first I thought the bridge was a straight knock-off of Marx's venerable bridge included in their awesome Civil War playsets, only smaller, but upon side-by-side comparison, the two are quite different as you'll see in the photos.
The Michael's bridge is quite sturdy and is comprised of a bottom plate screwed onto the top portion. It, like the Marx version, is a double-arch stone bridge but it's quite small at 5 3/4" (14.6cm) L x 3" (7.6cm) W x 1 3/4" (4.4cm) H. Although very nicely accomplished it's reall quite small for the standard 54mm playset use, but for kicks could still be worked into a diorama.
The Marx bridge (top) measures 10" L x 5" W x 2 1/2" H. Compare the two bridges in the photos below and you'll see the various differences, besides the obvious one of size.
Michael's calls this the 'Civil War Officer's Tent' and measures 4 3/8 " L x 3 5/8" W x 3 1/2" H and is fully 54mm playset compatible
Like It Deine Bettina <3 :) ;)
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